Midnights
by and.we.run
Summary: "Hold onto these memories, and they will hold on to you. And I will hold onto you." At their last New Year's Eve party before graduation, Beca and Jesse look back on their freshman year (with a little encouragement from their friends). One shot!


_A/N: Hey pals! Happy New Year's Eve! I came up with this idea when Hero by Enrique Iglesias came on at work a few weeks ago, and here it is! If you somehow have gone your whole life without hearing that song, I highly suggest you take a second to listen to it so you can fully understand the karaoke that is going down at the Bella/Treble party._

 _Also! If you like this one shot, I have anoth Jeca fic that I'm currently rewriting, called But Now What. Check it out!_

 _I hope you enjoy this little story! Please favourite & review :)_

* * *

 ** _December 31st, 2014_**

"Hey, Weirdo," Jesse grinned, handing his girlfriend a drink the moment she walked through the door of the Treble house with the rest of the Bellas.

"Hey," she leaned up to press a quick kiss to his mouth, taking the drink from him with an appreciative 'thank you.' Beca looked around, taking in the familiar New Year's Eve scene that was already unraveling in front of her. The boys, most of whom had been clearly pre-gaming until the girls arrived, were sitting in the hot tub, arguing as the whether it was really necessary to turn off the porn for the beloved karaoke they'd played every year on this night for the last three.

It was the fourth, and probably last year of the New Year's Eve party that the Trebles and Bellas had been having since freshman year. Three years ago, she never thought she would be looking forward to spending her new years with these weirdos, but now she couldn't wait to leave her dad's to get to Treble house.

* * *

"Do you remember our freshman year party?" Jesse whispered into Beca's ear with a grin. The pair were curled up on the couch, watching as Benji was trying to be subtle that he was trying to impress Emily. (Beca was pretty sure she'd never seen anyone sing with _that_ many flailing hand motions. She knew Legacy would find it endearing.)

"Hmm, no I don't think so," she hummed, not looking up at him. She didn't have to, to know that his smile had grown.

"Remember when I sang to you?"

"You sing to me pretty much every day. It's annoying."

"You love it," he told her. She was trying so hard not to look at his stupid cute face, knowing he would crack her. "But that night, it was extra great. Because you kissed me afterward."

"Pretty sure that's not what happened."

"That's definitely what happened," Jessica (or was it Ashley? After four years, Beca still wasn't entirely sure) pitched in from the other side of the couch.

"Hey! Are you trying to spend more time doing cardio?" Beca pointed an accusatory finger at the Bella. "You were sworn to secrecy, remember? We don't talk about that night."

"Oh, she's right," Fat Amy called over from her usual seat in the hot tub. "You guys were eye fucking all night, ready to go at like dingoes in heat."

"Bitch!" Amy shrugged.

"Don't worry Becs, it's hard to resist the Swanson charm."

"I hate you. I hate you so much."

* * *

 ** _December 31st, 2011_**

The second to last place Beca wanted to be on New Year's Eve was in her dorm room, getting for a party the Bellas were dragging her to. Unfortunately, that offer was better than her other option, which was being stuck at her dad and Sheila's place, where she would have to mingle with the Step-Monster's coworkers and unnecessarily large extended family.

Bumper and Amy had sent texts to their respective a cappella groups, telling them that their attendance at the TreBella New Year's Eve party (as they had called it in the text, putting Beca off even further from wanting to show up to this thing) was mandatory. The a cappella groups were supposed to be making their ways back to the Barden campus a few days after New Years anyway, so nobody really minded making the trek a few days early if it meant free booze and the promise of embarrassing drunken karaoke. The party was going to be small, only nineteen of them ( _DO NOT TELL AUBREY, I REPEAT_ DO NOT _TELL AUBREY POSEN_ ), which made it _slightly_ less painful.

Being at Barden so far hadn't been quite as awful as Beca expected. Being a Bella was alright if she looked past all the girls' inability to understand personal space and the fact that she was pretty sure that Aubrey hated her. Most of the girls were nice enough - Fat Amy was pretty funny - and yeah their set was old, and their flight attendant costumes sucked ass, but it turned out making music outside of her dorm room could actually be … okay.

And then there was Jesse. Annoying, persistent, dorky Jesse. He just wouldn't leave her alone, no matter how much she tried to make it obvious that she didn't want to hang out with him. Okay, well, maybe she didn't make it _that_ obvious. And maybe she'd started taking her headphones off when he approached her when she was sitting under that one tree in the courtyard. And maybe she didn't _totally_ hate it when he would bring her juice pouches after rehearsals and her shifts at the radio station that they didn't share (though she still wasn't sure how he figured her schedules out). And maybe she didn't hate his stupid movications quite as much as she pretended to. But she definitely did not have a toner for him, no matter what Aubrey said. Everything about their relationship was platonic. _Completely_ platonic. The way her chest sometimes fluttered when he looked at her and smiled, or how her knees had felt maybe a little bit weak at the riff-off when he was singing to her about the woman in her bringing out the man in him, meant absolutely nothing at all. She definitely had no romantic feelings at all for the nerd. None.

"Time to go, Flatbutt," Amy announced, letting herself into Beca's dorm followed by the rest of the girls because _why hadn't she locked her door?_

"Dude! I could have been naked!"

"It's nothing Chloe hasn't already seen," the Australian shrugged, settling down onto Kimmy Jin's crisp sheet. Beca winced, knowing she was definitely going to get shit for that when her roommate was back on campus.

"Oh my fucking god," she grumbled, shoving her feet into her combat boots. "Let's get this over with. Lilly, put that down!" Lilly whispered something incoherent, placing the decorative gold tree back on Kimmy Jin's desk, and Beca hoarded the Bellas out into the hallway.

* * *

Music mixed with off-key singing was blaring from the Trebles' house when the girls arrived, shoving their way through the front door. Donald and Unicycle were in the hot tub, Bumper was doing shots, shirtless, and the rest of the boys were either finding drinks in the kitchen or crowded around the television, where most of the unfortunate noises were coming from. "Alright boys, the fun has arrived! Make some room!" Fat Amy called into the house, stripping out of her coat in record speed and making her way into the hot tub.

"Was she … was that all she had on?" Ashley (Jessica?) asked, all of the girls watching Amy with confused frowns, but none of them all that surprised.

"Oh, would you look who it is. The laughing stock of Barden! Welcome, ladies," Bumper greeted, an opened bottle of beer in hand. "Booze is in the kitchen, and that's, uhhh, all you really need to know. Now, if you'll excuse me I have some … business to take care of," he said, eyes on Amy as he headed towards the hot tub with the others. Beca could have sworn she threw up a little in her mouth at that moment.

After getting drinks from the kitchen, Beca, Chloe, Cynthia Rose, and Stacie made their way to the living room where most of the boys were playing some karaoke game on the Xbox. Jesse spotted her right away, shouting "Becaw!" in-between lyrics to some One Direction song. She offered him a wave and small smile, perching on the arm of the leather couch. (Stacie and a Treble Beca didn't know the name of were already occupying the entirety of actual cushions, and she was pretty sure it was only a matter of time before they started dry humping. She quickly decided that keeping her eyes towards Jesse was safer than the scene unfolding beside her, watching him dance. Why was he doing that with his hips to the dumb boy band song? _How_ was he doing that with his hips to the dumb boy band song? And why did it suddenly feel so warm in the room?

"We're next!" Chloe grinned, slipping herself into the tiny space between the arm of the sofa and where Stacie was practically having sex, jarring Beca out of her thoughts. She really hoped her cheeks weren't as red as they felt.

"Dude, no," she grimaced, both because the ginger was sitting so close to whatever was happening on the couch, and the proposition of karaoke.

"You're not getting out of it," she smiled, blue eyes bright and wide. "You wanna be Britney or Madonna?"

"Neither."

"I'll do Madonna," she grinned, dragging Beca by the arm to the cleared out floor in front of the TV.

"You've got a lot to live up to, going after me," Jesse smirked, handing her his wired microphone. "But don't worry, I'll cheer for you anyways."

"Great," she scowled, ignoring the way he held on to the mic a second longer than he needed to as she was taking it. _Me Against the Music_ started up, and Beca let out a dramatic sigh. She knew she couldn't just stand there and look stupid, and Chloe was already getting _really_ into it and god, she couldn't believe she was really at a party full of a cappella nerds (fully self-aware that _she was one of them_ ) singing 2003 Britney Spears. Also, Jesse wouldn't stop looking at her. She could feel his gaze on her and she was trying really hard to not look at him because it was Britney and even though she wasn't one to enjoy early 2000's pop, she couldn't just _not_ move her hips a little. She definitely didn't need him getting ideas about her dancing (slightly) provocatively towards him, or because of him, or _whatever_. She didn't need him thinking anything about her.

He's brought her a new beer when that goddamn song finally ends and Lilly and Donald have taken the make-shift stage. Stacie and the nameless Treble have disappeared, (thank god, Beca really didn't need to see her 'hunter' in action), and Jesse is nodding her over to the spot next to him. "For the lady," he says, handing her the cool bottle.  
"How much have you had to drink?" She asks him, taking in his flushed cheeks and slightly blurry eyes. His hair is pushed away from his forehead, looking a little sweaty, because _fuck_ , it is really hot in this house.

"Only, like, two. I've just been getting super into the karaoke."

"I can see that," she grins, her eyes teasing. She takes a sip of her beer.

"You're going to love my next song choice."

"I somehow doubt that."

* * *

He had to be drunk. Sure, he was Jesse, and Jesse was the kind of guy who would pull crap like this, but there was no way he would be serenading her with Enrique Iglesias's _Hero_ if he wasn't drunk, right? If he wasn't drunk, he was definitely just joking. If his mission was solely to embarrass the absolute shit out of her, he was succeeding. The amount of eye contact he was making was absurd, and he was blowing kisses in her direction, and her face was on fire. And okay, maybe it would have been kind of cute if he wasn't looking at her like _that_ and if she wasn't so uncomfortable, but in that moment, all she could think about were all the different ways she could kill him.

The rest of the Bellas, of course, were all for it. They were even joining in on the last verse, taking the background vocals and crowding into her space and singing too loud into her ear and okay, maybe it was a little bit funny. And maybe the next thing she knew, she was standing on the couch, dancing with the girls and singing into her beer bottle, because she had just enough to drink that that was something she could do. Plus, nobody who was at the party really gave much of a shit about their dignity (clearly).

They all sang the last "I can be your hero" solemnly, in the likes of Enrique, before bursting into laughter. Jesse approached slinging an arm around Beca, who watched the Bellas wiggle their eyebrows and share looks out of the corner of her eye. "I told you, you were going to love it," he grinned, running his free hand back through his hair, then dragging her onto the couch with him.

"You were alright for somebody who clearly has a death wish," she told him, meeting his eyes. How were they so bright? Who had brown eyes that were _that_ nice?

"Only the best for you," his smile grew as he spoke, which Beca wasn't sure should have even been possible.

"Mm, thanks."

* * *

Beca wasn't sure how she had ended up in this position. It was three minutes until midnight, and she was wearing some stupid 2012 glasses that Jesse had tucked behind her ears. He had perched a party hat on his hair, and he wouldn't stop blowing into that stupid party horn, unfurling it against the back of her head. She was practically on his lap now, on that stupid leather couch, since all the members of the a cappella groups had crowded into the living room to watch the ball drop on TV. "You got any resolutions?" He asked into her ear since that's the only way she was able to hear him over all of the excited voices and the sounds from Times Square coming from the television.

"Nope, I know I won't stick with them so I don't bother making them," she hummed back, shifting slightly to look at him. "You?"

Two minutes until midnight now.

"A ton. Win the ICCAs," he started off, earning an eye roll from the girl. She knew the Trebles were definitely going to at least kick the girls' asses since Aubrey was too stuck in her damn ways. "Continue with your movication, you know, since you love them so much."

"They're great for catching up on sleep," she commented with a nod, smiling when he shook his head at her.

"Maybe start going to the gym more, so I can make all the ladies swoon with my great physique and killer dance moves."

"Probably a good choice," she teased, grinning up at him.

One minute until midnight.

Beca took a minute to look around the room, taking in all the crazy kids who were surrounding her. This is definitely not where she had expected herself to be at this point in her life, and definitely not where she expected to be ringing in her new year. They weren't so bad, though. None of this was so bad, really.

"I have one more resolution," Jesse whispered. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck and ear.

"Ten!" Everyone else was yelling.

She hated how his breath made her shiver.

"Nine!"

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Eight!"

Her eyes flitted up to his face.

"Seven!"

He was looking at her again, with his eyes all soft and warm and brown.

"Six!"

The stupid fluttery feeling in her chest was back.

"Five!"

And in her stomach.

"Four!"  
When did his face get that close to hers?

"Three!"

He definitely just looked at her mouth.

"Two!"  
"To get the girl," he finally answered.

"One!"  
Beca wasn't really sure who kissed who. All she knew that his mouth was covering hers and her hands were in his hair and his hands were holding her _so close_. She couldn't actually believe that this was happening, that she was _kissing_ Jesse Swanson at midnight on _New Years,_ but it was such a him thing to do. And she didn't hate it.

Her chest was fluttering and her entire body was hot, and she was pretty sure confetti was falling in her hair and the stupid 2012 glasses were digging weirdly into her face, but that didn't really matter because Jesse was kissing her.

It registered somewhere in the back of her mind that the yelling in the background had at some point changed from "Happy New Year!" to screaming about Beca and Jesse on that stupid leather couch.

They pulled away and her face was red and his hair was tousled, and her heart was still pounding a little too hard, and everyone was still screaming at them. And then they were doing damage control (because Beca didn't actually want to get kicked out of the Bellas), and she was swearing everybody to secrecy ( _I_ will _cut your dick off if Aubrey ever hears about this)_ and Jesse was still looking at her like she was the goddamn moon or something. They both knew nothing could happen between them, not yet. She couldn't risk getting kicked out of the a cappella group (she was still trying to get to LA, after all), but he was okay with waiting for her. Sure, they'd only known each other for a few minutes, but he knew she was worth it.

* * *

 ** _December 31st, 2014_**

"One minute to midnight," Jesse yelled, grabbing the remote off the arm of the couch and switching from the karaoke to the Times Square ball drop. There was a weird feeling running alongside the excitement in that moment. Maybe it was because they all knew that this was it; this was their last official TreBella New Year's Eve party (Beca still hated the dumb name), and that they were never going to be here, all together in this house, like this again. Most of the people in the house were graduating in May, and then who knew how they were going to be spending their next New Year's Eves.

Everybody was dawning pointy hats, and Beca was wearing those dumb 2015 glasses because Jesse brought her a pair every year, and he hadn't given up on blowing those party horns at her.

Her fingers were tangled with his as everyone started counting down. They were curled up on the stupid leather couch (that she hated slightly less now), that probably should have been replaced a long time ago. There was nowhere else she would have rather been.

"Ten!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Legacy and Benji slipping out of the room.

"Nine!"

Jesse had also noticed, and they shared a look, both grinning.

"Eight!"

Jessica and Ashley (Jessica was definitely the brunette, meaning Ashley was the blonde) were sitting on the coffee table with two Trebles.

"Seven!"

Cynthia Rose was still doing shots. That girl had a really high alcohol tolerance.

"Six!"

Fat Amy was fully on top of Bumper in the hot tub and, was that Bumper's tongue? The sight was a little bit disturbing.

"Five!"

Lilly and Donald were standing in the corner, whispering to each other, hand in hand.

"Four!"

Stacie was nowhere to be seen, meaning she was probably putting her 'hunter' to use in a bedroom upstairs. (Hopefully in a bedroom upstairs).

"Three!"

Chloe was standing in the back of the room, smiling brightly, but also looking like she could burst into tears at any moment. She was finally graduating this year. It was time to let go of the Bellas.

"Two!"

She couldn't believe this was it. She couldn't believe how much these nerds had impacted her. She couldn't believe how much she loved them.

"One!"

"Happy New Year, Bec," Jesse whispered, grinning as he slanted his mouth over hers.

"Happy New Year, Weirdo."

So yeah, maybe this - these parties, these people, this school - wasn't so bad, after all.


End file.
